Latest local information from the BBC

In a message to motorists, he said: "Please bear with us; we are working to full capacity, along with our partners in the Highways Agency to help you.

"If you are in trouble from a health perspective, or you have very young children with you, then please call 999. Stay in your car and keep warm by running the engine as much as you can."

Elsewhere in West Sussex, the A27 is closed at Worthing and the A29 at Bury Hill; in East Sussex, the A259 is shut at Eastbourne while the A21, A22, A26 and A27 are passable but very slow.

Meanwhile, Dover Coastguard has carried out a helicopter rescue of a man injured aboard a tanker off the Kent coast amid three-metre waves and gale-force winds. The man, who had suffered a shoulder injury, was flown to the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate.

On the rail network, cold conditions caused signalling problems and there were delays in a number of areas. On the Isle of Wight, the cold weather meant no rail services were operating between Shanklin and Ryde St Johns

BBC weather forecaster Steve Cleaton said the snow showers that had affected central and northern areas of the UK during Monday would tend to ease off overnight into Tuesday, although some of the higher areas of northern England may well still see a covering of snow.

What is wind chill?

Wind chill is a measure of the temperature the body feels rather than the temperature a thermometer would measure

As moisture evaporates from the skin, the body temperature drops - it is this process that allows you to stay cool in the summer

When we have a cold, dry, windy day the moisture in the skin evaporates quickly which cools the body even further

Source: BBC Weather Centre

Many areas of the UK will also see icy patches forming on roads, making driving conditions difficult.

South-east England is also likely to see around 2cm to 5cm of snowfall overnight, with Kent and Sussex the most affected counties.

Temperatures, which have remained close to freezing throughout the day, will plummet to around -2C to -5C in towns and cities and -4C to -6C in rural areas overnight, our forecaster said.

Temperatures of -10C could be seen in Scotland.

The bitterly cold, north-easterly wind will persist across most of England and Wales into Tuesday, he added, but it will ease across Scotland and Northern Ireland.

According to BBC forecasters, the blizzard is expected to continue across the Channel Islands into Tuesday morning.

It is likely to result in a new March snowfall record for Jersey, which saw 9cm of snow recorded in March 1962.

The RAC said it was expecting call-outs to increase by a fifth over the next few days, with RAC spokesman Pete Williams warning motorists they should "proceed with caution".

He encouraged drivers to leave time to prepare cars by heating them up, clearing windscreens and making sure lights were working.

"Leave plenty of room between yourself and the car in front and beware there may well be occasional stretches of black ice which could well cause you to skid," he added.

The Highways Agency, which maintains motorways and major roads in England, said it had "over 500 winter vehicles - salt spreaders, ploughs and snow blowers - on standby at over 100 depots to help keep traffic moving".